Disclaimer: Don't own Transformers…

Rating: T

Summary: Starscream: traitorous, boastful, but oh so brilliant, Starscream. Few actually understood what he put up with as second in command, what he willingly subjugated himself to in the name of the Decepticon cause, but they would. He just needed to disappear for a while. Starscream glorifying. Sister story to 'When You're Gone'. Slashy, but doesn't have to be.

AN: Hello! Well, silberstreif had made a statement on a review expressing how she wishes the cons would come to realize the importance of a certain, colorful seeker in their ranks. I decided to flow with it. Please enjoy!

In Him We Trust

Really, it was not that much of a surprise in hindsight that the Decepticon's Air commander had left. After all, it wasn't like they needed him, and more importantly, it wasn't like he was getting anywhere with his short-lived, and often times, inconceivably desperate bids for the Decepticon throne. Even so- there was something eerie in the silence he left in his wake.

Many called it awkward, but Soundwave, who had been with the Decepticons since the beginning, did not agree. He knew things, and in doing so, understood better than most ever would.

The first clue that something was terribly amidst should have been when Megatron went silent.

Very, very silent.

Perhaps it was something in the energon, or having been trapped under the dark abyss of the ocean for one too many earth years, but lately the Decepticon Leader had begun to become elusive, reclining upon his throne, doing nothing, seeing no one. His presence only noted on the battlefield, and in rare moments when he could be glanced wondering aimlessly through the halls, seeming looking for something.

Many had begun to wonder of their leader's change in behavior, the ever-present stoicism setting deep, aging lines upon his expression, replacing the once prominent brow line upon his features. He seemed almost relaxed, calm, and sometimes the Decepticons even welcomed this new side of their leader when the nights were peaceful and energon settled contently in their tanks.

Noted, however, was also Soundwave's sudden change of behavior, his avoidance of his glorious leader and the way in which he bowed lower and stood straighter, how his cassettes were nowhere to been seen and how he never once spoke to his leader without being addressed.

Hook had expressed a concern of their new second in command's recent behavior, but Scrapper had dismissed the notion with a wave of his hand and another swig of energon.

"It's a new position, it's probably just Soundwave adjusting."

Hook was not convinced, but he ignored it. There was no point fretting over what couldn't be changed, and he'd said as much to his teammates.

They readily agreed.

"Here, here. I toast to a full tank of energon and not a single screeching seeker in sight to bring Megatron's wrath down upon us."

"Here, here!"

"Here, here."

"Here, here!"

Optimus was becoming increasingly troubled, ominously so, taking greater and greater precautions to keep his warriors close and away from Megatron during their frequent battles. To the point of near obsession even.

It was unnerving to say the least.

Prowl, of course, had noticed the change in his leader and questioned him as to this change in tactics, expressing the illogicalness of it.

Optimus had merely looked Prowl in the optic, crossed his arms and said. "Something's different about him. He's too calm."

Prowl had nodded, typing something down on his data pad before looking up again. "The troops have taken note of this as well, but could this not be used to our advantage? He has been lax as of late, almost as though he were just waiting for something."

Optimus leveled Prowl with a look he'd seen only once under the Prime's rule, after the fall of Iacon.

"Megatron is a bot of intense passion and unfathomable anger." A flicker of shadow glinted in his optics, distant and wise, haunted by something unspeakable. "That doesn't just go away over night Prowl."

Prowl, despite his logic and his planning and his nature, could not deny that, and somewhere deep in his being where the most primal of instincts send the cold chills up one's back strut and gripped the spark with fear, he may have even understood it.

"Understood."

Skywarp was frantic as he clung to his trinemate and pulled him deep into the haul of the Nemesis, silent and demanding, his crimson optics pleading for an audience from his much more able wingmate.

This was not an unusual sight when the black seeker knew he was in deep slag and Thundercracker had had half a processor to ignore him. However, the unnatural silence had caught the blue seeker's attention and guided his pace beside his wingmate, deeper into the darkest parts of the war vessel.

When they were as far as they could go, Skywarp spoke up. "I think Megatron's going to kill me."

A frown knitted it's way onto Thundercraker's expression, having heard this so many times before, as he turned away, ready to leave his wayward trinemate in favor of something more pressing, but a tight, almost crushing grip on his arm stilled him.

"No TC. I mean I think he's really going to kill me."

With his usually brazen tone so strained and desperate, the blue seeker could not stop from looking back with morbid curiosity, but the sight he got chilled the very energon coursing through his frame.

Never before had he seen Skywarp shake like that, so badly his plating rattled and his wings struck painfully against his back. His hands could not even still long enough to be rung together.

"He's never looked at me that way. Almost as if I were-"

Silence, and in the dark musky depths of the Nemesis, with memories unleashed and a name unspoken between them, the broken trine began to realize exactly why their former second in command had been who he was.

The Decepticons found Ravage hidden away in the ventilation trying to sneak a few energon cubes from the rec-room a few earth days after the remaining of the elite seeker trine had taken to isolating in their quarters, coming out only to retrieve energon before stowing away again.

When first addressed, he'd snapped, actually snapped his jaws at and bit the Reflector component Spyglass, optics glowing and frame ridged in fury, hip rockets at the ready.

When questioned as to what the frag his problem was, the feline cassette had hissed it was nothing they wouldn't find out soon enough before gathering up the energon cubes and darting away through a low-lying vent.

Confused and slightly unnerved, the gathered Decepticons had puzzled the behavior for awhile before doing what they did best-

Ignored it.

The Reflector component Spyglass, however, could do naught but stare down at his near mangled hand, his brothers hovering nervously over his shoulders, and wonder if the cassette's host's odd behavior had anything to do with this.

A pained screech could be heard echoing through the Nemesis halls, long and broken and chilling as the sound of metal beating metal rung again and again and again without pause. Snarling, begging and the hum of a fusion cannon being charged up soon followed.

The gathered Decepticons watched on in morbid horror as energon pooled at their peds, taking in the sight before them with gaping expressions.

"You dare question my power? I am Megatron! And you dare question me? Me?" The Decepticon leader roared, optics blazing with a fury it hadn't for so very long.

"Of course not my lord Megatron! I merely asked if you were well since you'd received an injury last battle." Hook explained through pained intakes, trying to make himself appear smaller before the terrifying vision of his lord towering above him with his fusion cannon pointing directly at his helm. "I have only your health as my intentions."

"My health?" The Decepticon leader inquired lowly, and the look in his optics began to darken to a most familiar shade. "You think something's wrong with me?"

"No, no my Lord. Of course-"

"Stop your groveling Starscream!" Megatron bellowed unthinkingly as he struck the other, sending him across the floor with one frame-shattering blow. "Do not take me for a fool!" He turned suddenly, leveling his remaining subordinates with a searching gaze, before it rested on Hook's unmoving form once more.

Realization seemed to flicker across his features before it was replaced by blind rage, intense and over-powering, uncontrollable.

"Out! Get out and take that piece of slag with you!"

"Yes my Lord!" And like that the Decepticons fled the rec-room, Scavenger and Mixmaster dragging Hook out with them.

That night Megatron's enraged roars boomed through the Nemesis till the first light of dawn, and Soundwave remained hidden in his room, soothing a shaking Buzzsaw as they waited for the worst to come.

It battle was brutal; savage in a way it'd not been for vorns. Megatron was out of control, blasting at anything that so much as moved, even hitting a few of his own in the process. His own soldiers were avoiding him, a newfound fear clear in their optics as they took shots at the Autobots from a distance. Optimus had taken a direct hit to the arm just moments after trying to approach the incensed tyrant.

Nothing seemed to register to Megatron. He bellowed and waged battle on anything that came into his line of vision, snapping at his soldiers and going so far as to chase down Bumblebee with his cannon blazing, who only escaped with Jazz's intervention.

The only thing reflected in his optics was the long repressed anger being released without focus or direction, taken out on anything he could get within his grasp.

It was only when the anger had momentarily passed that his optics finally seemed to clear enough to he realized he'd managed to hold the enemy back long enough to gather the energon cubes.

With a triumphant bellow and a smirk he called for the retreat, laughing the entire way.

The Autobots were all too relieved to see the Decepticon leader go to really worry about the energon cubes at the time, but the Decepticons begun to realize they'd be trapped with the bot for the next who knew how long under miles of ocean and nowhere to run or hide.

That celebration, the festivities were much more subdued than normal, even with their leader off in his throne room drinking himself into oblivion alone.

The crew recharged uneasy that cycle.

The fits of rage were becoming more frequent: quick, violent bouts of fury unchecked and directed at no one individual when released, with long periods of stoic silence in-between.

The Decepticons spent much of their time trying to passively evade their leader, knowing to do so noticeably would bring his suspicions down upon them. They were scared witless at the prospect of being next to be subjected to his wrath.

Hook, Astrotrain, Brawl, Scavenger, Wildrider, and most recently Skywarp had all been targeted at one point for having gone against his authority and the like- though the legitimacy of those claims were questionable at best.

Hook, for having questioned him on his health.

Astrotrain, for having been a bot too quiet during one of the Decepticon meetings.

Brawl, for having not heard Megatron calling him the first time when summoned.

Scavenger, for having found a scrape of metal and having added it to his collection not knowing it was Megatron's- lost during one of his tantrums.

Wildrider, for having not being able to stop on time and bumping into the Decepticon leader.

And Skywarp, because at the time he'd looked enough like Starscream that Megatron hadn't recognized him in the dark.

The paranoia it was progressively getting worse, until it reached the point in which Megatron began systematically seeking out potential traitors to put back in their place.

It was Blastoff, and his aloof demeanor and love of knowledge, who was dubbed the first to be put back in his place.

Megatron paced the length of his throne, optics flashing and frame tense as he locked gazes with his new second in command. He paused briefly, as though contemplating something of grave importance, before continuing his pacing.

Finally, after much thought, he addressed his second. "Soundwave, report on the Combaticon's positions!" He barked.

Soundwave did so readily. "Rec-room: Refueling."

"Clever, that's what they are. With the traitorous Starscream gone, so many more have come to take his place. It's inconceivable how much treachery that seeker left in his wake." He stopped suddenly, sitting heavily on his throne. "Starscream was never this difficult to figure out, but he was a fool so I should have expected as much. But his influence thrives even now! Will his Primus-forsaken laugher never stop haunting me?"

Soundwave remained silent, visor bright and posture just perceivably on edge.

The rage begun to build once more, that distinct darkening of his optics right before he went on one of his fits, the same look he'd always given the former Air commander before he'd put his fist to his helm. His optics begun searching the room, and Soundwave recognized it for what it was.

His lord was looking for somewhere to direct his unbridled anger, anger that had been conditioned to focus near exclusively on the colorful seeker, his most accessible and favored target.

Only, that outlet wasn't beside him, where it'd always been.

Where it'd always been, from the beginning.

Always.

All the seekers had put themselves in complete lockdown, refusing to leave the safety of their quarters unless directly summoned- because to refuse would be proof of their guilt- or to do their patrols- where they can be out of the Nemesis when slag hits the fan and Megatron puts the beat down on the first available spark he manages to catch.

Even the Coneheads were no longer safe from their leader's only slightly discriminate beatings. The only requirement to be mistaken for Starscream by then was to have wings and being the right size. Something, sadly, all seekers seemed to have in common.

It was Thrust who'd found this out the hard way, by having his wings ripped off and shoved unceremoniously up his thrusters.

His right thruster was still acting up because of it.

However, the Coneheads had been given a slight retrieve in form of a very, very long patrol, which Hook approved of in a rare act of compassion even with Thrust's defecting thruster threatening to give out.

If anything, the fall would at least be a mercy killing, the Decepticon medic had joked.

The seekers had sadly had the states of mind to agree with the morbid, but ultimately failed, sense of humor, even finding some kind of perverse comfort in the notion.

Needless to say, Hook hadn't tried that particular brand of humor with the seekers again.

It was on this patrol, however, that Dirge caught sight of a very familiar sight soaring high above the snow-capped mountain ranges to the east, cruising at speeds no human-made aircraft could ever hope to achieve.

It was Starscream, in all his red, white, and blue glory.

Unsurprisingly, the Conehead trine immediately made haste to catch up with the rapidly retreating form, almost catching him too before he suddenly disappeared behind the mountain range he'd been flying near. When they got to where he should have been trapped between the mountain's bases, they found no trace of him, not even a secret lair in with to break an entry.

That cycle, Thrust wept in frustration and Ramjet nearly followed.

More so than usual, there was a distinct feeling of doom lingering over the Decepticons as they awoke from recharge, a sense of unease so thick it actually settled like a physical weight upon the cons' chassis, making it difficult for them to rise from their berths. It seemed to affect everyone.

It was an ominous sign.

The weight remained throughout much of the day until it finally came to a boil around late afternoon when the sun had just begun bleeding the sky red and the cons had gathered upon the Nemesis docking center to prepare for their next raid. It was as they were about to take off that the tension finally snapped.

"Soundwave, you traitorous fool!"

The sound of a plasma cannon going off caused the already tense Decepticons to burst into a frenzy of screams and flurried movements, all moving away from their once more volatile leader whose cannon was charging up for another shot.

The sound of Ravage's snarls and Soundwave's pained gasp sent a knowing chill down the collective Decepticon's spinal cords as they took in the sight before them, not quite believing what they were seeing.

The spectacle was simply impossibility for them.

Soundwave, on the ground with his arm smoking, and Megatron, with his cannon aimed right at Ravage, who was standing defensively over his host snarling at the Decepticon leader. The whole scene just didn't compute to them at first.

"I should have known. It's always the quiet ones. You and Starscream must have been in an alliance to overthrow me. Always so quiet and thoughtful, of course you'd be the mastermind behind it all." Megatron bellowed in fury, optics dimming once more as he looked upon his second with that expression the Decepticons had come to know so intimately over the last six months or so.

Weakly, Soundwave managed to come to a sitting position. "Negative. Starscream: acted on his own."

"You think I'll fall for your lies. After all this time you just happened to stumble upon Starscream's comm. frequency! This is obviously a cleverly devised coup to take my throne."

"Negative. Starscream: passed close to Nemesis. Soundwave: use telepathy to hail his attention and request his return to Decepticons."

Megatron froze, optics brightening just slightly. "He's near here."

"Affirmative."

Megatron suddenly took an imposing step towards the downed bot, completely disregarding the cassette's presence as he commanded to know the seeker's location.

As answer, Soundwave merely pointed behind him, and Megatron tensed.

"Oh glorious Lord Megatron, how glad I am to see you. Could you not even control your army in my absence?" A voice as sweet as a dying record player cooed mockingly, the sound of high-performance thrusters ringing like sirens to the Warlord's audios. "If I was leader-"

"Starscream!" Megatron roared, rage-drunken world coming into focus once more as he fixated of the brightly colored seeker, ire centering tightly on the hovering figure above, all others lost in the background of his thoughts. "Where have you been, you traitorous glitch?"

"Why-" The seeker began with an affronted hand over his cockpit, though his expression was anything but. "I merely wished to get out, see the world-" And piss you the frag off, but that went unsaid.

"You are not to leave without my permission." Megatron snarled threateningly, his cannon humming to life once more.

"Your permission." The seeker snorted, casting a glance towards the other Decepticons, slightly unnerved by the way they watched him so intently, as through they feared he'd disappear if they took their optics off him for a moment. It was kind of creepy. "I don't have to follow you. I've been doing fine on my own." Blatant lie, but he'd bite his own glossia before admitting that.

"You will follow me, so long as you wear that Decepticon insignia on your wings."

The seeker huffed up. "When I'm leader, it will be you who will bow before me!"

The cannon fired, hitting Starscream dead center in the wing and sending him down to the docking deck in a withering heap. The seeker screeched in pain and managed to stumble to his knees, turning the most pitiful expression he could muster towards the Warlord.

"Oh, Lord Megatron, please have mercy!" The seeker easily slipped back into his role as cowardly traitor begging for his life, sucking up to his Lord in a way he knew would get him back into the Decepticon ranks without question.

Megatron looked upon his seeker with dark, calculating optics, before he seemingly came to a decision.

He grabbed the seeker's wing, pulling him uncomfortably close as he spoke. "That I will spare you pathetic life is mercy enough. Next time, you will not be so lucky."

But of course, this was a blatant lie, and both Starscream and Soundwave knew this, even if Megatron didn't.

"Masochist." Deadpanned.

"Who was the one who called me back to base anyway, hn, Soundwave? Please remind me, the beating I just received from our glorious Lord Megatron seems to have glitched my memory chips."

As explanation, the blue cassette player pointed at the gaping hole in his arm, expression- even concealed- somehow managing to come across as highly agitated.

"How was I suppose to know he'd go haywire if I left for a few months? I may be a masochist at spark, but even I need a break from that mech's madness sometimes!"

Deadpanned expression.

Silence.

"Wha- Ow! Don't hit my wing you monotone drone! It's every sensitive. Ow, ow, ow! Okay, okay! I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'll warn you next time I decide to leave the base! Just stop hitting it with you tentacles!"

Under the table, Ravage purred contently, pleased that all had turned out well in the end and that he could finally get some well deserved recharge.

AN: Once more, this is a slightly AU-ish fic meant to glorify Starscream in the name of character recognition and fangirlism, which is strange because I've never been a huge Starscream fan, but all well, I can dig it. Personally, I like the whole 'Bro, you left me hanging' thing going on between Starscream and Soundwave. So cute!

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